For a large set of software applications (program) it is necessary to answer a logic statement Yes or No. Yes and No are typically expressed in the computer field by respectively a binary 0 or a 1. This type of answer (“return”) is for instance the case when a digital signature is verified to answer if the signature has been determined to be valid or not.
For inside a secure computing environment it is possible simply to transmit this logic Yes/No status as a Boolean value of 1 or 0. In a non-secure computing environment, a block cipher can for instance be used to encrypt the Boolean value for transmission. This is often done with the addition of a random number, to avoid the well known replay type attacks.
However, for some applications use of a block cipher is impossible due to the length of execution time and software code size required for a block cipher or equivalent. For instance, many consumer electronic devices do not have adequate processing ability to handle a block cipher (which is complex), but do require data security.